Beldo realizes that, yet again, the family of Guy has beaten him. Beldo returns to Monsbaiya to get revenge on Koh. Little does he know that the final showdown won't be against Koh, but against his own demons. PLEASE R&R!

First
chapter, up and running! Please keep in mind that this is still a
work in progress. I'm actually editing a hard copy right now, but I
wanted to get some more feedback than just my own. So…read and
enjoy, loyal Azure Dreams fanz!

PS
I don't own any of the characters mentioned in this fanfic. Don't
sue me, pretty please with sugar on top!

Revelation

"Oh,
my head," the blue-haired man rolled onto his back and threw his
arm over his eyes. The light from the forty-fifth floor of the
Monster Tower was filtered, but still bright, coming from unseen
windows that filled the room with sunlight. The man blinked his eyes
to allow them to get used to the light and sat up to look around.

The
room was peaceful; there was no evidence of the battle that had taken
place less than an hour before. Gradually, memories came back to the
blue-haired man. His name was Beldo and he was a monster tamer. He
had lived on this floor of the Tower for seven years, waiting for the
son of his rival, Guy, to reach the Tower so he could defeat him in
battle and end the family line of those damned red-heads for good.

Beldo
growled as he remembered the outcome of that battle. The boy, Koh,
wasn't it, had reached the top of the Tower in less than a year!
The brat, only sixteen years old, had beaten Beldo even without his
precious familiar. Beldo had seen to it that he took the familiar
from the boy immediately, turning the powerful Kewne into an
extension of his own arm. Confident that Koh could not possibly win,
Beldo had been completely astonished when he found himself fading
into the blackness of unconsciousness on the cold tile floor of the
Tower.

Beldo
appraised the room as quickly as his throbbing head would allow. His
heart skipped a beat when his eyes fell on the empty pedestal in the
center of the room. A solitary beam of light shone from it, clear
ethereal light coming from somewhere other than the outside sunlight.
In the center of the pedestal was a rounded indentation: the only
indication that the Tower's greatest treasure had rested there
until just recently.

Beldo
jumped to his feet, ignoring his protesting head and fell onto the
pedestal in disbelief. The Ultimate Egg was gone! His prize, the sole
purpose of his life for the past nine years had been taken by his
mortal enemy! Beldo sank numbly to the floor, unable to comprehend
that he had lost once and for all. "All my work and training gone
in one swipe of the sword!" Beldo said absently to the floating
dust particles in the light of the room.

The
thought of a sword made Beldo remember his own sword. Seraphim had
been Guy's sword, but through Beldo's continual use in the upper
floors, it had grown considerably in power and magic. But the sword
was nowhere to be seen. Without even bothering to look around for it,
Beldo knew that the sword was gone; it was once again in the hands of
Guy's family.

Beldo
growled as the full realization of what Koh had done finally sunk in.
The more he thought about it, the more he seethed. But more than the
knowledge that he had lost everything material, Beldo knew that he
had been beaten again by the one family that he had promised himself
he would never be beaten by again. That damage to his pride burned
deeply in Beldo, drowning out everything else. He knew that he
couldn't leave the score the way it stood; he had to completely
destroy Koh and prove once and for all that he, Beldo, was the true
conqueror of the Monster Tower.

But how to go about doing it? Beldo glanced around the room, looking
for any hints as to his quest. He had no weapons, no familiars, and
no magic beyond his own skills, which had begun to deteriorate in the
past few years due to lack of challenge. He would have to rely on his
wits and his own strength. Having made his decision, Beldo closed his
eyes, chanted a phrase in a foreign language and disappeared from the
top floor of the Tower, leaving the solitary 40th floor
empty for the first time in seven years.

Moments
after his body evaporated from the tower, Beldo appeared in the
gateway leading to the Monster Tower on the northern end of
Monsbaiya. Beldo blinked and shielded his eyes from the glaring
desert sun. How long had it been since he had seen the sun without
the filters of the Tower windows? Eyes still covered, he took a few
steps into the town of Monsbaiya.

Suddenly,
a blue blur sped by, clipping Beldo's arm and tearing the fabric of
his sleeve. Beldo jumped back just in time and fell backward into the
dusty road. His mouth fell open as he watched a kid, no older than
twelve, stop his shiny new Aura Bike and reverse it until he was
idling in front of Beldo.

"Hey,
mister!" the kid complained loudly, "What do you think you're
doing? This Bike is brand-new and if it's scratched, I'm gonna…"

Beldo
pulled himself up and brushed the brown dust off his clothes, his
temper rising steadily. He stepped menacingly toward the little boy,
"Or you will do what?" His gloved hand shot out and grabbed the
Aura Bike's handlebars tightly as Beldo continued, "Little boy,
do you know who you are dealing with?"

Beldo
expected the boy to scream, possibly beg for mercy and then to run
off into town to warn anyone who would listen about the arrival of
the most feared monster tamer ever. Of course, he couldn't have the
kid putting the town on alert, so he'd have to stop him somehow. As
his mind debated between hiding the boy and simply killing him, the
boy surprised him. Instead of playing out Beldo's scenario, the boy
simply shrugged his shoulders and said frankly, "So?"

Beldo's
cheek twitched involuntarily at the boy's brash statement. His grip
on the handlebars of the bike tightened until the metal started to
creak and the boy adopted an expression of intense dislike toward the
man who was abusing his new Bike. "Are you saying," Beldo hissed,
"That you do no t know who I am?"

"I
know you're a freaky old guy who's breaking my Aura Bike," the
kid retorted as he slapped Beldo's hand off the handlebars, causing
Beldo to recoil as though he had been burned. "Get off, dude!"

"I
am Beldo!" he shouted, his eyes flaming, "The greatest monster
tamer in the world! How dare you treat me like this?"

Both
people stood in silence for a moment as the boy processed this last
statement. Then, he burst into wild peals of laughter, bending over
the handlebars of the Bike and slapping his leg, "The
greatest…that's the best joke I've heard all day, mister! You!
A monster tamer?" The rest of his comments were lost as his
laughing left him breathless.

Beldo
drew himself up regally, peering at the ignorant and tactless little
boy down the length of his nose. "And what is so funny?" he asked
coldly, "I will have you know that I have been on the top floor of
the Monster Tower for…"

"No,
you haven't," the boy interrupted, apparently recovered from his
laughing fit, "Koh is the only person who's been to the top floor
of the Tower. And Guy made it, too, but he died. Koh has the Ultimate
Egg. He's my hero. You're just a pathetic old guy." And with
that, the boy slammed the Aura Bike's accelerator down and sped
away into town, knocking Beldo back into the dust.

"What
is going on?" Beldo muttered as he rubbed his bruised elbows, "My
name used to carry fear in this godforsaken town…" He got to his
feet and began striding into town, doing his best to recover his
confidence, despite the now brown-blue appearance of his long cape.
"Perhaps it is just the stupidity of youth," he told himself, "I
am sure that the rest of the town not only remembers me, but still
lives in fear of my presence." He stopped and spread his arms wide,
his cape billowing behind him, "Fear me, Monsbaiya! Beldo is back!"

Seven years is a very long time. This was the thought that rang through
Beldo's mind as he paced through the streets of Monsbaiya. "Seven
years," Beldo muttered, "is enough time to erase the greatest
legend that ever lived. It is absurd! Do these people have no fear?
No respect?"

He
stopped suddenly when he found himself standing in front of a pretty
fountain, water softly bubbling over a central post and cascading
into the pool below. Beldo's eyes narrowed as he stalked to the
small flight of stairs to the fountain's edge, "What lunacy is
this? A fountain in the desert?"

"It's
not lunacy," said a nearby female voice, "It's culture!"

Beldo
whirled to face the girl. He billowed his cape menacingly as he
surveyed the girl, rating her on his mental 'enemy scale'.

She
was about fifteen or sixteen, her green hair pulled into twin buns on
her head and her face twisted into an angry scowl that didn't seem
to suit her at all. She noticed Beldo's appraising look and scowled
even more, "What are you looking at?"

"I'm
sorry, culture?" Beldo said. He gestured to the fountain, "This
is not culture! This is lavish frippery! This spot should be a statue
dedicated to me, Beldo! Who would build this waste of space? I demand
to know!"

The
girl was furious now. Her cheeks glowed red and she balled her fists
up at her sides. "I'll have you know: She said in a dangerous
shaky voice, "That Koh built this fountain. Koh is a cultured,
intelligent man! Not that you'd know what that means!"

Without
warning , the girl's fist connected with Beldo's nose in a
sickening crunch of bone. "You freak!" The girl shouted as Beldo
backed away clutching his face protectively. "Koh lives in that
house right over there! I hope he beat you up! She pointed and
huffily strode away, leaving Beldo alone on the fountain.

Beldo's
eyes traveled to where the girl had pointed. His red eyes widened in
horror and he fell backward to get away from the house. Guy's hut
had been tiny the last time Beldo had seen it, barely enough to
support the three people who lived there. Now, thanks to Koh's
travels in the tower, the house was enormous, larger even than the
nearby Rode mansion. Beldo stumbled back in horror until his knees
struck the edge of the fountain. He stumbled backward, hit his head
on the pool floor and passed out,. As the world faded to black around
him, he swore to himself he would regain his place in society and get
his revenge against the son of Guy.

Beldo
woke with another pounding headache. For a moment, he thought he had
been dreaming, but no. His nose throbbed as well, almost in time with
his head. He gingerly rubbed his sore nose, a souvenir of the
ignorant girl at the fountain. "Oh, you'll regret your actions,
girl! I'll find you and you'll…"

A
wet towel landed on Beldo's face, nudging his nose a little. Beldo
cried out and threw the towel to one side. He snapped his head left
and right, looking for someone to maim.

A
plump, middle-aged man stood a few feet away, his arms crossed and a
pleasant smile on his face. "You're lucky Aunt Lenora found you
in the fountain or else you'd be drowned. How'd you end up in the
fountain, anyway, son?"

"Ah,"
the doctor laughed, "You must mean Nico. That girl has a temper on
her, that's for sure. What'd you do to provoke her?"

"I
did nothing!" Beldo shouted, "I simply asked her a question! Now
enough with your interrogation! Answer my question! What is this
place?"

"You're
in the hospital," the man beamed proudly and gestured to his
surroundings.

"This
is not the hospital, you lying son of a pulunpa," Beldo muttered,
"This place is too advanced to be the Monsbaiya hospital."

"The
doctor frowned, "You know, you're right. Or you would have
been right before this year. The hospital used to be very primitive.
It was hard for me to work here, because sometimes, I couldn't do
anything to help my patients." Then, he brightened, "But about a
year ago, it was remodeled!"

"Oh,
that's wonderful," Beldo said, unexpectedly pleasant, "It that
an ultrasound machine…wait." His eyes narrowed to slits and he
said in a low voice, "Who remodeled it?"

The
doctor's face positively glowed, "Koh!"

Outside
on the street, a young couple out for a stroll paused in confusion as
a scream rang out over the hospital. The yell lasted for about five
minutes until it drifted off into silence. The couple exchanged
perplexed looks, then both shrugged and continued on their way.

"Hey,
how'd you do that?" The doctor laughed, "That's amazing! You
know, with a lung capacity like that, you should be a singer or a
diver…"

"Well,"
pondered the doctor, "There's the fountain, the theatre, the
bowling alley, the casino, the temple, the racetrack, the library,
the…"

"Stop!"
Beldo cried. He dropped his head in his hands, "I understand! Stop
now."

"The
arcade; and he fixed the pool and the windmills and, oh, yes, he…"

"Curse
you, Koh, son of Guy!" Beldo jumped to his feet and held his fists
above his head, yelling to the immaculate white ceiling of the
hospital, "I swear to you, I will destroy you and everything you
hold dear!"